Battle For The West: Turkey Warns ‘fascist’ Netherlands Will Pay

The diplomatic relations between the Netherlands and Turkey deteriorated severely overnight, with Turkey’s President Recep Erdogan using harsh terms on Sunday.

Erdogan warned that fascist Holland will pay dearly for blocking his ministers from attending rallies aimed at winning support from the Netherlands’ 400,000 strong Turkish diaspora for the future referendum in Turkey, a referendum that seeks to expand presidential powers.

Erdogan accused the Netherlands of fascist practices with regard to the treatment of his ministers and vowed to retaliate in the harshest way after the ministers were blocked from attending a rally in Rotterdam.

After the Dutch government first blocked Turkish Foreign Minister from flying to Rotterdam on Saturday and also stopped Turkish Family Minister from entering the consulate before escorting her out of Holland to Germany, hundreds of Turkish nationals waving Turkish flags gathered outside of the consulate in the port city in protest.

Some of them attacked the police with stones and bottles, forcing the security forces to intervene with a water cannon and dogs for dispersing the rioting mob. Several rioters were beaten by the Dutch police with batons while police officers executed a charge on horseback against the protesters.

At the same time, Turkish President Erdogan continued his relentless tirade, basically comparing all his political enemies with Hitler and Nazis, claiming that Nazism is still widespread in the West in the aftermath of Holland stopping Turkey from spilling its political tensions beyond its borders, just like other European countries which have a significant Turkish community.

The Dutch embassy in Ankara was closed as protesters gathered outside throwing stones and eggs at the buildings. The Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte responded to Turkish Foreign Minister’s demands for an apology saying that he will do everything to de-escalate the situation but the idea of apologizing sounds bizarre, saying that:

“This is a man who yesterday made us out for fascists and a country of Nazis. I’m going to de-escalate, but not by offering apologies. Are you nuts?”

The Dutch government supported the Prime Minister’s decision to ban the Turkish officials visits due to the real threat of political divisions spilling into Holland’s significant Turkish minority, which has both anti and pro Erdogan camps, citing security and public order worries.

Angela Merkel also said that she is concerned about Turkey’s erratic diplomacy, and she will do everything possible to prevent Turkey’s domestic issues from spreading onto Germany’s strong Turkish community. Switzerland and Austria also cancelled Turkish rallies for the same reason as Holland while a member of the German parliament demanded earlier on Sunday for the European Union to stop aid to Turkey and dismissed any hopes that the country would join the EU.

“There is no prospect of entry in the long run. Turkey is getting further and further away from the European Union. Support programs (that it gets as an EU candidate) are therefore a waste of taxpayers’ money,” it is time that the EU stops performing like a diplomatic paper tiger towards Ankara. Europe must not be led by the nose round the Turkish election arena.“